I'm finally sick of Verizon's shit to the point that I want to switch. They're expensive, nickle and dime you on buying phones, heavily lobbied against Net Neutrality, and refuse to sell a phone without a locked bootloader.

Project Fi is the one that I keep coming back to, but I'm not 100% sold.

Basic plan is $20 for unlimited calls and texts, plus $1 per 100MB of data usage (so $10 per GB). No contract, so you're only charged for what you use, and they cap your bill at $60 for a given month without cutting off data. It also uses 3 networks (Sprint, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular), and will jump to whichever tower is strongest at the given moment.

But there are two things that give me pause. The first is that there have been some complaints about phones leaking data, with some folks seeing a generic "Android OS" entry taking up 500MB-1GB per month. Now I haven't seen any reddit posts about this within the last 8 months or so, so this may be fixed.

The other is that it doesn't seem like you can root a phone or switch to a different OS without potentially screwing up service. This is a mixed bag: I'm actually trying to get away from Google as much as possible due to their data collection. Granted, nothing says I have to use GMail (and I'm moving towards not using it at all), and some of the more egregious things (the various services that involve always listening) can be disabled. And I'm not 100% sure there's a significant difference between giving a lot of this data to Google vs. giving it to Verizon or some other carrier. On the other hand, even if I'm not using GMail for e-mail, your phone is tied to your GMail account.

But I'm also not sure what the alternative is. Verizon sucks as I said, but the only other companies in the same ballpark price-wise as Fi are these smaller no-name ones, and it's a roll of the dice either way.

I've been with Project Fi for over two years, and on average I use about 2 GB of data of month. I pay about $50ish per month.

I originally got an LG Nexus 5X and it lasted until about a few months ago when the phone's dreaded bootloop issue killed it dead, so now I have a Moto G6 (I like that recently they've expanded to a wider variety of compatible outside phones: Originally you basically had to order a compatible phone through Google since there were only 2-3 varieties, but now you can buy a qualifying unlocked phone in any store).

I only mention the phones to say that I've never had the issue of Android OS using 1 GB of my data, and admit that it might be a product of what phones I used. But I also kill nearly all notifications on my phone, as well as disable a lot of default apps. The only major data hogs on my phone over time have been Twitter and Facebook, and that's all on me.

If you've got understandable hangups over Google's collection and usage of data, I can understand that. It might not be the best move to take on a service run by Google if you've got those reservations, when they have their claws in Android OS and practically mandate their apps be all over the OS.

But I personally have little shame and couldn't care less what of my data they have, especially since I have Gmail and they pretty much have all my info through there anyway. I disabled most of their data collection on my main Google account, and really only enable GPS on the phone for various personal reasons.

That aside, the service has been terrific. No frills, not expensive, and super reliable. You can even use data as normal outside of the US, though calls still cost extra. If the Google privacy concerns aren't a dealbreaker, it may be worth it.

I actually realized that the advantage to using Google is that I'll be more conscious about what I do on my phone, not less. Because it's not like Verizon was collecting less data, but it was easier to forget about it in that case.

Comcast now offers mobile service that is in the same price range as Fi. I think if you have Comcast service in your home, then calls and text are free and data is like $12/GB. Doesn't have all the other connectivity perks of Fi though. I have been 100% satisfied with Fi compared to other providers I've used. That said, I don't have any ideological aversion to Google yet, so I can't really comment there.

I'm with tacocat: Comcast is an absolute no-go for me. (I don't have them at home, either). But I'm glad to hear your experience with Fi has been good. After the bullshit the Verizon rep threw my way when I asked about how my wife and mother-in-law's costs might change if I left, I'm that much more eager to leave.

I've been with Fi for 3-4 years now. Inside the city is is amazing and works great. Outside in the sticks, it will depend on what cell tower you connect to and how hard they are throttling data from third party companies.

You need a google phone, and have to verify that your phone will work on their software.

The downside is that if there is an open wifi, the phone will grab that, create a VPN tunnel to Mountain View, CA using that as your location in any web browser. If you turn off WiFi on the phone you negate the good parts of using Fi. kleinbl00 had some trouble with the WiFi component and he can give a better negative than I can.

Note on my use: I make 3-5 phone calls a day, get under 10 text messages a day and use the phone as an email viewer, an RDP to my servers, tethering my laptop at events, and some space/astronomy apps. Total bill a month comes to under $30. The most my bill has run over the last year with the Pixel 2 phone has been $40, and that was due to me tethering a laptop out in the sticks and needing to upload images and Powerpoints to a school. Last month's bill was $27.

Go find the TMobile connectivity map for where you live, and look at where you go compared to the signal strength. If everything there is green, you should be good. I've noted that the Pixel 2 seems to have a better 4G antenna than the other people in the office; they will have two bars and I will be at full strength, for example, and that is assuming I do not grab a WiFi and negate the need for a cell tower at all.

One bonus is that with the Google branded phones you don't get any bloatware. You get updates to your Android version and security updates for three years, and you get them before anyone else on an LG, Samsung etc phone.

And if you have a credit score over 750 you can get 0% financing for two years in most cases, but that is no longer a plus as all the carriers will offer some form of "Please pay us a monthly fee as that is where we make our margins" financing plan.

Thanks, that's helpful. It sounds really good for my use case, which is in areas where T-Mobile especially has good coverage, and very little data usage.

One thing: aren't you worried about the security implications of connecting to some random, open wifi point? A VPN won't prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.

For the phone, I'm torn. I like the idea of a Pixel 2, but the LG G7 ThinQ is actually cheaper: it's a higher base cost ($750 vs. $650), but they're running a special right now where you get a $300 credit on your bill if you buy one.

Google claims to have some super special ultra security wifi secret sauce that makes random networks secure. I don't know how it works, but I don't like it. It often doesn't connect very well even if it is secure, which I have no idea if it is. I usually turn off wifi in those situations.

I have a pixel 1. It's a good phone, but not a great one. Sort of buggy. For example sometimes it just only vibrates instead of ringing. Other annoying but not critical issues exist. Don't know if there pixel 2 had similar issues. I'm probably going to get a 3 when it comes out this fall.

It's super easy to just kill your WiFi though and always connect to a network. That's what I do at work, because the WiFi is shit. It costs a few more dollars per month, but well worth it. Also, I travel overseas a couple times per year and nothing beats Fi for international travel. The peace of mind of being able to get off a plane anywhere in the world without having any communication interruption is beautiful if you do any regular travel outside the US. I've been on Fi for about 3 years, and I've used it in at least 9 other countries. Never had to do anything more than restart to get connected. Highly useful for that specific use case.